Search results for: ethical investment

Authors: Siti Noor Baiti Binti Mustafa

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Energy management studies regarding energy efficiency investments in Malaysia has yet to address the lack of empirical research that examines pro- sustainability behavior of managers in the industrial sector and how it influences energy efficiency investment decision-making. This study adopts the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the relationship between personal attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), the intention of energy efficiency investments, and how perceptions of Non-Energy Benefits (NEB) influence these intentions among managers in the industrial sector in Malaysia. Managers from various sub-sectors in the industrial sector were selected from a sample of companies that are participants of the Government-led program named the Energy Audit Conditional Grant (EACG) that aimed to promote energy efficiency. Data collection was conducted through an online semi-structured, open-ended questionnaire and then later interviewed. The results of this explorative sequential qualitative study showed that perceived behavioral control was a significant predictor of energy efficiency investment intentions as compared to factors such as attitude and subjective norms. The level of awareness and perceptions towards NEB further played a significant factor in influencing energy efficiency investment decision-making as well. Various measures and policy recommendations are provided together with insights on factors that influence decision-makers intention to invest in energy efficiency, whilst new knowledge on NEB perceptions will be useful to enhance the attractiveness of energy-efficient investments.

Keywords: energy efficiency investments, non-energy benefits, theory of planned behavior, personal attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, Malaysia industrial sector

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Authors: Stephan Printz, Kristina Lahl, René Vossen, Sabina Jeschke

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Strategic investment decisions are characterized by high innovation potential and long-term effects on the competitiveness of enterprises. Due to the uncertainty and risks involved in this complex decision making process, the need arises for well-structured support activities. A method that considers cost and the long-term added value is the cost-benefit effectiveness estimation. One of those methods is the “profitability estimation focused on benefits – PEFB”-method developed at the Institute of Management Cybernetics at RWTH Aachen University. The method copes with the challenges associated with strategic investment decisions by integrating long-term non-monetary aspects whilst also mapping the chronological sequence of an investment within the organization’s target system. Thus, this method is characterized as a holistic approach for the evaluation of costs and benefits of an investment. This participation-oriented method was applied to business environments in many workshops. The results of the workshops are a library of more than 96 cost aspects, as well as 122 benefit aspects. These aspects are preprocessed and comparatively analyzed with regards to their alignment to a series of risk levels. For the first time, an accumulation and a distribution of cost and benefit aspects regarding their impact and probability of occurrence are given. The results give evidence that the PEFB-method combines precise measures of financial accounting with the incorporation of benefits. Finally, the results constitute the basics for using information technology and data science for decision support when applying within the PEFB-method.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria decision, profitability estimation focused on benefits, risk and uncertainty analysis

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Authors: Kyujin Shim, Soojin Kim

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This study identifies and examines the impact of factors on two types of CSR outcomes, consumers’ perceptions of corporate authenticity and their pro-firm behavior intentions. Specifically we investigated the roles of two factors - the consumers’ perceptions of CSR motives of a company (i.e. business-oriented vs. society-oriented) and their ethical orientations (i.e. deontology vs. consequentialism). A web-based survey was conducted in South Korea and the United States respectively to compare the differences of consumer reactions between the two countries. The results show that consumers in two countries behave differently to a firm’s CSR motives. In the United States, when consumers perceive a company’s CSR motive as society-oriented, they are more likely to perceive the company authentic and as a result more likely to engage in pro-firm behavior. However, when consumers’ ethical orientation is considered, only consumers’ consequential orientation led to their pro-firm behavioral intention. In South Korea, interpretation of two different CSR motives affects the valence in consumers’ perceptions of corporate authenticity (i.e. society-oriented CSR motive and positive perception of corporate authenticity vs. business-oriented CSR motive and negative perception of corporate authenticity). Korean consumers also showed same pattern in terms of relationship among society-oriented CSR motive, perception of corporate authenticity, and pro-firm behavior intention. Interestingly, Korean consumers’ consequential orientation affects both their perception of corporate authenticity and their pro-firm behavior intention positively. In addition, there was an interaction effect of business-oriented CSR motive and deontological orientation on perception of corporate authenticity. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Keywords: corporate authenticity, corporate social responsibility, consequentialist ethics, CSR motives, deontological ethics

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Authors: Antonio Piga

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The study of language strategies in financial and corporate discourse has always been vital for understanding how companies manage to communicate effectively with a wider customer base and offers new perspectives on how companies interact with key stakeholders, not only to convey transparency and an image of trustworthiness, but also to create affiliation and attract investment. In the light of Systemic Functional Linguistics, the purpose of this study is to examine and analyse the annual reports of Asian and Western joint-stock companies involved in oil refining and power generation from the point of view of the functions and frequency of grammatical metaphors. More specifically, grammatical metaphor - through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) - is used as a theoretical tool for analysing a synchronic cross-cultural study of the communicative strategies adopted by Asian and Western companies to communicate social and environmental sustainability and showcase their ethical values, performance and competitiveness to local and global communities and key stakeholders. According to Systemic Functional Linguistics, grammatical metaphor can be divided into two broad areas: ideational and interpersonal. This study focuses on the first type, ideational grammatical metaphor (IGM), which includes de-adjectival and de-verbal nominalisation. The dominant and more effective grammatical tropes used by Asian and Western corporations in their annual reports were examined from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. The aim was to categorise and explain how ideational grammatical metaphor is constructed cross-culturally and presented through structural language patterns involving re-mapping between semantics and lexico-grammatical features. The results show that although there seem to be more differences than similarities in terms of the categorisation of the ideational grammatical metaphors conceptualised in the two case studies analysed, there are more similarities than differences in terms of the occurrence, the congruence of process types and the role and function of IGM. Through the immediacy and essentialism of compacting and condensing information, IGM seems to be an important linguistic strategy adopted in the rhetoric of corporate annual reports, contributing to the ideologies and actions of companies to report and promote efficiency, profit and social and environmental sustainability, thus advocating the engagement and investment of key stakeholders.

Keywords: corporate annual reports, cross-cultural perspective, ideational grammatical metaphor, rhetoric, systemic functional linguistics

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Authors: Matej Stritesky

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The research deals with the connection between the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values and the ethical principles in psychology, on which the meta-code of ethics the European Federation of Psychological Associations is based. The research focuses on ethically problematic situations in clinical psychology in the Czech Republic. Based on the analysis of papers that identified ethically problematic situations faced by clinical psychologists, a questionnaire of ethically problematic situations in clinical psychology (EPSCP) was created for the purposes of the research. The questionnaire was created to represent situations that correspond to the 4 principles on which the meta-code of ethics the European Federation of Psychological Associations is based. The questionnaire EPSCP consists of descriptions of 32 situations that respondents evaluate on a scale from 1 (psychologist's behaviour is ethically perfectly fine) to 10 (psychologist's behaviour is ethically completely unacceptable). The EPSCP questionnaire, together with Schwartz's PVQ questionnaire, will be presented to 60 psychology students. The relationship between principles in clinical psychology and the values on Schwartz´s value continuum will be described using multidimensional scaling. A positive correlation is assumed between the higher-order value of openness to change and problematic ethical situations related to the principle of integrity; a positive correlation between the value of the higher order of self-transcendence and the principle of respect and responsibility; a positive correlation between the value of the higher order of conservation and the principle of competence; and negative correlation between the value of the higher order of ego strengthening and sensitivity to ethically problematic situations. The research also includes an experimental part. The first half of the students are presented with the code of ethics of the Czech Association of Clinical Psychologists before completing the questionnaires, and to the second half of the students is the code of ethics presented after completing the questionnaires. In addition to reading the code of ethics, students describe the three rules of the code of ethics that they consider most important and state why they chose these rules. The output of the experimental part will be to determine whether the presentation of the code of ethics leads to greater sensitivity to ethically problematic situations.

Keywords: clinical psychology, ethically problematic situations in clinical psychology, ethical principles in psychology, Schwartz theory of basic values

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Authors: Chaiwat Wuthinitikornkit

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inevitably affects the landscape of the political economy of the host country. It is, therefore, significant to review and uncover how and in what way(s) FDI shapes the preferences of the interest groups within the host country, as such preferences may, in turn, influence the policies of the host country. By conducting a review of relevant literature, this paper attempts to outline the key forces behind such preferences and identify potential gaps for future studies. This paper argues that while existing theories have specified endowment and political and institutional factors as key explanations behind the preferences of domestic interest groups, other qualitative attributes of the foreign investors' side, such as their nationalities, have yet to be adequately investigated empirically and may potentially also possess explanatory power. This is particularly important in the current global economic landscape, where key global investors hail from origins from both developed and developing countries with diverse political systems and business practices. This paper aims to provide the groundwork for future studies on these potential gaps, which may provide not only contributions to the academic sphere but also practical insight into policymaking and business communities.

Keywords: foreign direct investment, interest groups, international political economy, political economy

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Authors: Gulnara Galeeva, Yulia Kasperskaya

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The study deals with the relevant problem related to the formation of the efficient investment portfolio of an enterprise. The structure of the investment portfolio is connected to the degree of influence of intangible assets on the enterprise’s income. This determines the importance of research on the content of intangible assets. However, intangible assets studies do not take into consideration how the enterprise state can affect the content and the importance of intangible assets for the enterprise`s income. This affects accurateness of the calculations. In order to study this problem, the research was divided into several stages. In the first stage, intangible assets were classified based on their synergies as the underlying intangibles and the additional intangibles. In the second stage, this classification was applied. It showed that the lifecycle model and the theory of abrupt development of the enterprise, that are taken into account while designing investment projects, constitute limit cases of a more general theory of bifurcations. The research identified that the qualitative content of intangible assets significant depends on how close the enterprise is to being in crisis. In the third stage, the author developed and applied the Wide Pairwise Comparison Matrix method. This allowed to establish that using the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean value of the elements of the vector of priority of intangible assets makes it possible to estimate the probability of a full-blown crisis of the enterprise. The author has identified a criterion, which allows making fundamental decisions on investment feasibility. The study also developed an additional rapid method of assessing the enterprise overall status based on using the questionnaire survey with its Director. The questionnaire consists only of two questions. The research specifically focused on the fundamental role of stochastic resonance in the emergence of bifurcation (crisis) in the economic development of the enterprise. The synergetic approach made it possible to describe the mechanism of the crisis start in details and also to identify a range of universal ways of overcoming the crisis. It was outlined that the structure of intangible assets transforms into a more organized state with the strengthened synchronization of all processes as a result of the impact of the sporadic (white) noise. Obtained results offer managers and business owners a simple and an affordable method of investment portfolio optimization, which takes into account how close the enterprise is to a state of a full-blown crisis.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, bifurcation, investment portfolio, intangible assets, wide matrix

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Authors: Steven Woods

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The use of Corporate Social Responsibility Statements has become ubiquitous in society. The appeal to consumers by being a well-behaved social entity has become a strategy not just to ensure brand loyalty but also to further larger scale projects of corporate interests. Specifically, the use of CSR to position corporations as good planetary citizens involves not just self-promotion but also a way of transferring responsibility from systems to individuals. By using techniques labeled as “greenwashing” and emphasizing ethical consumption choices as the solution, corporations present themselves as good members of the community and pursuing sustainability. Ultimately, the primary function of Corporate Social Responsibility statements is to maintain the economic status quo of ongoing growth and consumption while presenting and environmentally progressive image to the public, as well as reassuring them corporate behavior is superior to government intervention. By analyzing the communication techniques utilized through content analysis of specific examples, along with an analysis of the frames of meaning constructed in the CSR statements, the practices of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability will be addressed from an ethical perspective.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, ethics, greenwashing, sustainability

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Authors: George Ogono Muok, N. Obange, S. A. Odhiambo

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Empirical literature on the determinants of foreign direct investments (FDI) flows is extensive but controversial over some determinants of FDI in-flows in developing countries. The objective of this study therefore was to investigate the overall determinants of FDI inflows in Kenya. Dynamic macroeconomic theory and correlational study design provided theoretical framework for specification of a time series model. The study used data observed from 1970 to 2015 in World Development Indicators (WDI) data bank. The results show that annual growth rate of GDP, inflation rates and external debt as a proportion of GDP are significant determinants of FDI inflows in Kenya and are therefore important macroeconomic parameters for policy formulation for promotion of FDI inflows in Kenya.

Keywords: determinants of foreign, direct, investment inflows in, Kenya, Africa

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Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai

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This work explores the inter-region investment behaviors of integrated circuit (IC) design industry from Taiwan to China using the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI). According to the mutual dependence among different IC design industrial locations, Lotka-Volterra model is utilized to explore the FDI interactions between South and East China. Effects of inter-regional collaborations on FDI flows into China are considered. Evolutions of FDIs into South China for IC design industry significantly inspire the subsequent FDIs into East China, while FDIs into East China for Taiwan’s IC design industry significantly hinder the subsequent FDIs into South China. The supply chain along IC industry includes IC design, manufacturing, packing and testing enterprises. I C manufacturing, packaging and testing industries depend on IC design industry to gain advanced business benefits. The FDI amount from Taiwan’s IC design industry into East China is the greatest among the four regions: North, East, Mid-West and South China. The FDI amount from Taiwan’s IC design industry into South China is the second largest. If IC design houses buy more equipment and bring more capitals in South China, those in East China will have pressure to undertake more FDIs into East China to maintain the leading position advantages of the supply chain in East China. On the other hand, as the FDIs in East China rise, the FDIs in South China will successively decline since capitals have concentrated in East China. Prediction of Lotka-Volterra model in FDI trends is accurate because the industrial interactions between the two regions are included. Finally, this work confirms that the FDI flows cannot reach a stable equilibrium point, so the FDI inflows into East and South China will expand in the future.

Keywords: Lotka-Volterra model, foreign direct investment, competitive, Equilibrium analysis

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Authors: Joy Winston James, Abdul Kadher Jilani

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This review article provides a comprehensive overview of social engineering attacks, specifically those executed through the Kali Linux operating system. It aims to present an in-depth analysis of the background and importance of social engineering in cybersecurity, the tools, and techniques used in these attacks, real-world case studies that demonstrate their effectiveness, and ethical considerations that need to be taken into account while using them. The article highlights the Kali Linux tools that are commonly used in social engineering attacks, including SET, Metasploit, and BeEF, and discusses techniques such as phishing, pretexting, and baiting that are crucial in conducting successful social engineering attacks. It further explores real-world case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of these techniques, emphasizing the importance of implementing effective countermeasures to reduce the risk of successful social engineering attacks. Moreover, the article sheds light on ethical considerations that need to be taken into account while using social engineering tools, emphasizing the importance of using them ethically and legally. Finally, the article provides potential countermeasures such as two-factor authentication, strong password policies, and regular security audits to help individuals and organizations better protect themselves against this growing threat. By understanding the tools and techniques used in social engineering attacks and implementing appropriate countermeasures, individuals and organizations can minimize the risk of successful social engineering attacks and improve their cybersecurity posture. To illustrate the effectiveness of social engineering attacks, we present real-world case studies that demonstrate how easily individuals and organizations can fall prey to these attacks. We also discuss ethical considerations that must be taken into account while using social engineering tools, emphasizing the need for responsible and legal use of these tools.

Keywords: pen testing, hacking, Kali Linux, social engineering

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Authors: Mohammad Azam

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This work is an endeavor to empirically investigate the Gross Domestic Product-Growth as mediating variable between various factors and portfolio returns using a broad sample of 522 financial and non-financial firms enlisted on Pakistan Stock Exchange between January-1993 and June-2022. The study employs the Structural Equation modeling and Ordinary Least Square regression to determine the findings before and during the Covid-19 epidemiological situation, which has not received due attention by researchers. The analysis reveals that market and investment factors are redundant, whereas size and value show significant results, whereas Gross Domestic Product-Growth performs significant mediating impact for the whole time frame. Using before Covid-19 period, the results reveal that market, value, and investment are redundant, but size, profitability, and Gross Domestic Product-Growth are significant. During the Covid-19, the statistics indicate that market and investment are redundant, though size and Gross Domestic Product-Growth are highly significant, but value and profitability are moderately significant. The Ordinary Least Square regression shows that market and investment are statistically insignificant, whereas size is highly significant but value and profitability are marginally significant. Using the Gross Domestic Product-Growth augmented model, a slight growth in R-square is observed. The size, value and profitability factors are recommended to the investors for Pakistan Stock Exchange. Conclusively, in the Pakistani market, the Gross Domestic Product-Growth indicates a feeble moderating effect between risk-premia and portfolio returns.

Keywords: asset pricing puzzle, mediating role of GDP-growth, structural equation modeling, COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan stock exchange

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Authors: Ilhan Keskin, Hasan Bulent Kantarci

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In this study, one of the tools of Islamic financing known as “Sukuk” a non-interest bearing investment which has started to be implemented in Turkey and the world as a whole is discussed. In order to increase the vitality and efficiency of the economy, by taking lessons from the recent economic crisis new developments in the banking and investment sector are being expanded. The purpose of all investors is to obtain more revenue through the use of capital. The inability of traditional investment tools to meet the expectations of investors and the interest based financial system where one investor benefits at the expense of another there has been the need for a different, reliable and non-interest bearing financial market that is consistent with the Islamic rule. As a result an alternative and more reliable interest free financing tool “Sukuk” rental certificates covering people who are sensitive to Islamic rules, appeal to all segments, hidden remaining capital that contributes to the economy, reduce disparities in income distribution, common risk sharing system of profit and loss sharing has emerged. Today, for the structural countries by examining the state of the world market economy the applicability, enactment and future issues associated with this attractive kind of Islamic finance namely the “Sukuk” market has been explained.

Keywords: Islamic finance, islamic markets, non-interest bearing, rental certificates

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Authors: Fatemeh Fahimifar, Rouhollah Nazari, Seyed Mohammad Reza Hosseini

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Achieving an adaptable rate of economic growth has always been at the forefront of Iran development programs. In order to increase welfare level of the people in the society, all economic and social indices should be improved which is possible just in case of country's economic development and growth. While developing countries has realized the gap between developed countries and developing countries in today's world, a massive movement has been emerged in less developed countries to eliminate this economic gap. Hence this study investigates the effect of financial development, foreign direct investment and intellectual property on Iran's economic growth and taking into account other variables on economic growth such as impact of the share of foreign direct investment on GDP, government consumptive expenditure share of GDP has been paid. Period used in this study is related to the years 1974 to 2009. Also, in this research we have used Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to examine relationship between variables. The results of this study indicate a meaningful and negative impact of financial development, the share of government consumptive expenditure to GDP and similarly, the initial GDP on economic growth. Also, the degree of economy openness, foreign direct investment and intellectual property has a meaningful positive impact on economic growth.

Keywords: financial development, FDI, intellectual property, economic growth, Iran

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Authors: Ezeoke Callistus Obiora, Ezeoke Nneka Angela

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The study investigated the effect of deficit financing on macroeconomic variables in Nigeria. The specific objectives included to find out the relationship between deficit financing and GDP, interest rate, inflation rate, money supply, exchange rate and private investment respectively on a time series covering a period of 44 years (1970 – 2013). The Ordinary Least Square multiple regression produced statistics for the coefficient of determination (R2), F-test, t-test used for the interpretation of the study. The findings revealed that Deficit financing has significant positive effect on GDP and exchange rate. Again, deficit financing has a positive and insignificant relationship inflation, money supply and investment. Only interest rate recorded negative yet insignificant relationship with deficit financing. The implications of the findings are that deficit financing can be a veritable tool for boosting economic development in Nigeria, but the influential positively rising exchange rate implies that deficit financing devalues the Naira exchange rate to other currencies indicating that deficit financing can affect Nigerians competitive advantage at the world market. Thus, the study concludes that deficit financing has not encouraged economic growth in Nigeria.

Keywords: deficit financing, money supply, exchange rate, inflation, GDP, investment, Nigeria

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Authors: Jonathan E. Oghenekohwo

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The return to scale constitutes a significant investment index in the determination of the quantum of resources that is deployed in investment decision on worker’s continuing professional development. Such investment decision is always predicted on the expected outcomes to the individual, institution and the society in context. Several investments in the development of human capacity on the job have been made, but the return to the scale of such seems not to have been correlated positively with the quantum of resources invested in terms of productivity and performance among workers in many universities. This paper thus found out that, despite the commitment and policy instrument to avail workers the right of continuing professional development, the multiplier effects are not evident in diligence, commitment, honesty, dedication, productivity and improved performance on the job among most administrative staff in Nigerian Universities This author, therefore concludes that, given the policy on the right of workers to get trained on-the job, the outcomes of such training must reflect on the overall performance indices, otherwise, institutions should carry out a forensic analysis of the types of continuing professional development programmes that workers participate in, whether or not, they are consistent with the vision and mission of the institutions in terms of economies of scale of workers professional development to the individual, institution and the nation in context.

Keywords: continuing, professional development, economies of scale, worker’s education, administrative staff

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Authors: Moyosooore A. Babalola, Ayodeji S. Ogunleye

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The main focus of the study was to determine the profitability of investment in the Oil Palm value chain of Osun State, Nigeria in 2015. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of Oil Palm investors (producers, processors and marketers), to determine the profitability of the investment to investors in the Oil Palm value chain, and to determine the factors affecting the profitability of the investment of the oil palm investors in Osun state. A sample of 100 respondents was selected in this cross-sectional survey. Multiple stage sampling procedure was used for data collection of producers and processors while purposive sampling was used for marketers. Data collected was analyzed using the following analytical tools: descriptive statistics, budgetary analysis and regression analysis. The results of the gross margin showed that the producers and processors were more profitable than the marketers in the oil palm value chain with their benefit-cost ratios as 1.93, 1.82 and 1.11 respectively. The multiple regression analysis showed that education and years of experience were significant among marketers and producers while age and years of experience had significant influence on the gross margin of processors. Based on these findings, improvement on the level of education of oil palm investors is recommended in order to address the relatively low access to post-primary education among the oil palm investors in Osun State. In addition to this, it is important that training be made available to oil palm investors. This will improve the quality of their years of experience, ensuring that it has a positive influence on their gross margin. Low access to credit among processors and producer could be corrected by making extension services available to them. Marketers would also greatly benefit from subsidized prices on oil palm products to increase their gross margin, as the huge percentage of their total cost comes from acquiring palm oil.

Keywords: oil palm, profitability analysis, regression analysis, value chain

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Authors: Piriya Pholphirul, Pungpond Rukumnuaykit

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Contrary to studies of other migrant-receiving countries, most of which are developed countries, this paper examines impacts of immigrant workers on innovative capacities in Thailand, which is not only a representative of a receiving country that is a developing country but also a country where the majority of its immigrant workers are unskilled. Analysis of firm-level survey data in Thailand finds that employing unskilled and cheap labor from neighboring countries, namely, Myanmar, the Lao PDR, and Cambodia, is like adopting a kind of “labor-saving technology” which actually impedes firms’ R&D investment. Contrary to developed countries in which immigrants are found to boost innovation and promote sustainable growth, in Thailand, even though employing unskilled immigrant workers helps firms maintain their cost competitiveness in the short run, its negative impacts on R&D investment tend to hamper improvements in productivity and thus diminish global competitiveness in the long run. Employing skilled or educated migrants, on the other hand, complements technological progress and encourages firms to innovate more quickly. In addition, the paper finds that providing government incentives and promoting access to financing have become effective tools in facilitating Thai firms’ investment in innovation.

Keywords: immigration, innovation, developing country, Thailand

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Authors: Yolanda Indah Permatasari, Sudarsono Hardjosoekarto

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Public private partnership (PPP) scheme was considered as an alternative source of funding for infrastructure provision. However, the performance of PPP scheme and interest of private sector to participate in the provision of infrastructure was still practically low. This phenomenon motivates the research to reconstruct the form of collaborative governance at the policy level from the perspective of transaction cost of the PPP scheme. Soft-system methodology (SSM)-based action research was used as this research methodology. The result of this study concludes that the emergence of transaction cost sources at the policy level is caused by the absence of a law that governs infrastructure investment, especially the implementation of PPP scheme. This absence is causing the imbalance in risk allocation and risk mitigation between the public and private sector. Thus, this research recommended the formulation of infrastructure investment law that aims to minimize asymmetry information, to anticipate the principal-principal problems, and to provide legal basis that ensures risk certainty and guarantee fair risk allocation between public and private sector.

Keywords: public governance, public private partnership, soft system methodology, transaction cost

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Authors: Jyh-Yi Shih, Chie-Bein Chen, Kuang-Yi Lin, Yu-Wei Huang

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Because of the trend toward globalization, Taiwanese companies have gradually focused more on overseas market operations. Overseas market performance has gradually increased as a proportion of Taiwanese companies’ total business revenues. Existing international investment theories cannot explain numerous new phenomena in this domain. Opinions are inconsistent, and contradictory positions exist regarding the antecedents of multinational enterprise (MNE) performance. This study applied contemporary internalization theory to establish and extend approaches adopted by previous relevant studies. In the context of the overseas market, the influence that MNE investment in research and development (R&D) and marketing has on enterprise performance was investigated from the firm-specific advantages (FSAs) and country-specific advantages (CSAs) perspectives. CSAs and internationalization speed were addressed as moderators, and hypotheses regarding how internationalization and performance were achieved through MNE overseas market operation were explored to ensure the completeness of the investigation. The list of enterprises was sourced from the Taiwan Economic Journal. After examining the relevant data, the following conclusions were obtained: (a) The relationship between the level of FSAs in R&D and enterprise performance exhibited an S-shaped curve. (b) The relationship between the level of FSAs in marketing and enterprise performance displayed a U-shaped curve. (c) The extent to which potential CFAs were obtained positively moderated the relationship between enterprise investment in R&D to gain FSAs and MNE performance. (d) Internationalization speed positively moderated the relationship between MNEs and enterprise investment in R&D and marketing to gain FSAs.

Keywords: multinational corporation, firm-specific advantages, country-specific advantages, international speed

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Authors: Henning Lahmann, Benjamyn I. Scott, Bart Custers

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Suboptimal adoption of AI in defence organisations carries risks for the protection of the freedom, safety, and security of society. Despite the vast opportunities that defence AI-technology presents, there are also a variety of ethical, legal, and societal concerns. To ensure the successful use of AI technology by the military, ethical, legal, and societal aspects (ELSA) need to be considered, and their concerns continuously addressed at all levels. This includes ELSA considerations during the design, manufacturing and maintenance of AI-based systems, as well as its utilisation via appropriate military doctrine and training. This raises the question how defence organisations can remain strategically competitive and at the edge of military innovation, while respecting the values of its citizens. This paper will explain the set-up and share preliminary results of a 4-year research project commissioned by the National Research Council in the Netherlands on the ethical, legal, and societal aspects of AI in defence. The project plans to develop a future-proof, independent, and consultative ecosystem for the responsible use of AI in the defence domain. In order to achieve this, the lab shall devise a context-dependent methodology that focuses on the ‘analysis’, ‘design’ and ‘evaluation’ of ELSA of AI-based applications within the military context, which include inter alia unmanned aircraft. This is bolstered as the Lab also recognises and complements the existing methods in regards to human-machine teaming, explainable algorithms, and value-sensitive design. Such methods will be modified for the military context and applied to pertinent case-studies. These case-studies include, among others, the application of autonomous robots (incl. semi- autonomous) and AI-based methods against cognitive warfare. As the perception of the application of AI in the military context, by both society and defence personnel, is important, the Lab will study how these perceptions evolve and vary in different contexts. Furthermore, the Lab will monitor – as they may influence people’s perception – developments in the global technological, military and societal spheres. Although the emphasis of the research project is on different forms of AI in defence, it focuses on several case studies. One of these case studies is on unmanned aircraft, which will also be the focus of the paper. Hence, ethical, legal, and societal aspects of unmanned aircraft in the defence domain will be discussed in detail, including but not limited to privacy issues. Typical other issues concern security (for people, objects, data or other aircraft), privacy (sensitive data, hindrance, annoyance, data collection, function creep), chilling effects, PlayStation mentality, and PTSD.

Keywords: autonomous weapon systems, unmanned aircraft, human-machine teaming, meaningful human control, value-sensitive design

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Authors: Qurratulain Faheem

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The human body often serves as a reference point to analyse the notions of self and society. Situating on Merleau-Ponty and Bourdieu theories of embodiments, this research explores the notions around the human body and its influence on the ethical considerations in regards to organ transplantation among the Muslim communities in Pakistan. The context of Pakistan makes an intriguing case study as cadaveric organ transplantation is not in practise. Whereas living organ transplantation is commonly is practised between family membersonly. These contradictory practices apparently rests on the ideologies around the human body and religious beliefs as well the personal judgements and authority of healthcare professionals. This research is a year-long ethnographic study carried out as part of doctoral studies. An anthropological approach towards organ transplantation in Pakistan brought forward various socio-cultural notions around the human body and selfhood that serve as a framework around biomedical ethical issues in various societies. Further, it surface the contradictions and issues associated with organ transplantation that makes it a dilemma situated in a nexus of various socio-cultural and political factors rather seeing it as an isolated health concern. This research is a novel study on the subject of organ transplantation in the context of Pakistan but also put forward ethnographic data that could serve as a reference in other religious societies. Further, the ethnographic data bring forward experiences and stories of organ receivers, organ donors, religious leaders, healthcare professionals, and the general public, which aspire to encourage biomedical ethicists and social-scientists to consider ethnography as a research methodology and rely upon people’s lived experiences while establishing policies and practices around biomedical ethical issues.

Keywords: organ transplantation, ethics, pakistan, gender, islam, muslims, living organ donation

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Authors: Irina Khutsishvili

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The presented study develops a decision support methodology for multi-criteria group decision-making problem. The proposed methodology is based on the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) approach in the hesitant fuzzy environment. The main idea of decision-making problem is a selection of one best alternative or several ranking alternatives among a set of feasible alternatives. Typically, the process of decision-making is based on an evaluation of certain criteria. In many MCDM problems (such as medical diagnosis, project management, business and financial management, etc.), the process of decision-making involves experts' assessments. These assessments frequently are expressed in fuzzy numbers, confidence intervals, intuitionistic fuzzy values, hesitant fuzzy elements and so on. However, a more realistic approach is using linguistic expert assessments (linguistic variables). In the proposed methodology both the values and weights of the criteria take the form of linguistic variables, given by all decision makers. Then, these assessments are expressed in triangular fuzzy numbers. Consequently, proposed approach is based on triangular hesitant fuzzy TOPSIS decision-making model. Following the TOPSIS algorithm, first, the fuzzy positive ideal solution (FPIS) and the fuzzy negative-ideal solution (FNIS) are defined. Then the ranking of alternatives is performed in accordance with the proximity of their distances to the both FPIS and FNIS. Based on proposed approach the software package has been developed, which was used to rank investment projects in the real investment decision-making problem. The application and testing of the software were carried out based on the data provided by the ‘Bank of Georgia’.

Keywords: fuzzy TOPSIS approach, investment project, linguistic variable, multi-criteria decision making, triangular hesitant fuzzy set

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Authors: Adiba Matin, Daniel Cabrera, Javiera Bellolio, Jasmine Stewart, Dana Gerberi (librarian), Nathan Cummins, Fernanda Bellolio

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OBJECTIVES: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming more prevalent in healthcare settings, particularly for diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations, with an expected surge in the incoming years. The bedside use of this technology for clinicians opens the possibility of disagreements between the recommendations from AI algorithms and clinicians’ judgment. There is a paucity in the literature analyzing nature and possible outcomes of these potential conflicts, particularly related to ethical considerations. The goal of this scoping review is to identify, analyze and classify current themes and potential strategies addressing ethical conflicts originating from the conflict between AI and human recommendations. METHODS: A protocol was written prior to the initiation of the study. Relevant literature was searched by a medical librarian for the terms of artificial intelligence, healthcare and liability, ethics, or conflict. Search was run in 2021 in Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Medline, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection. Articles describing the role of AI in healthcare that mentioned conflict between humans and AI were included in the primary search. Two investigators working independently and in duplicate screened titles and abstracts and reviewed full-text of potentially eligible studies. Data was abstracted into tables and reported by themes. We followed methodological guidelines for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). RESULTS: Of 6846 titles and abstracts, 225 full texts were selected, and 48 articles included in this review. 23 articles were included as original research and review papers. 25 were included as editorials and commentaries with similar themes. There was a lack of consensus in the included articles on who would be held liable for mistakes incurred by following AI recommendations. It appears that there is a dichotomy of the perceived ethical consequences depending on if the negative outcome is a result of a human versus AI conflict or secondary to a deviation from standard of care. Themes identified included transparency versus opacity of recommendations, data bias, liability of outcomes, regulatory framework, and the overall scope of artificial intelligence in healthcare. A relevant issue identified was the concern by clinicians of the “black box” nature of these recommendations and the ability to judge appropriateness of AI guidance. CONCLUSION AI clinical tools are being rapidly developed and adopted, and the use of this technology will create conflicts between AI algorithms and healthcare workers with various outcomes. In turn, these conflicts may have legal, and ethical considerations. There is limited consensus about the focus of ethical and liability for outcomes originated from disagreements. This scoping review identified the importance of framing the problem in terms of conflict between standard of care or not, and informed by the themes of transparency/opacity, data bias, legal liability, absent regulatory frameworks and understanding of the technology. Finally, limited recommendations to mitigate ethical conflicts between AI and humans have been identified. Further work is necessary in this field.

Keywords: ethics, artificial intelligence, emergency medicine, review

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Authors: M. H. Shwehdi, S. Raja Mohammad

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Recently energy savings have become more pronounced as a result of the world financial crises as well the unstable oil prices. Certainly all entities needs to adapt Energy Conservation and Management Strategies due to high monthly consumption of their spread locations and advancements of its telecom systems. These system improvements necessitate the establishment of more exchange centers as well provide energy savings. This paper investigates the impact of HVAC System Characteristics, Operational Strategies, the impact of Envelope Thermal Characteristics, and energy conservation measures. These are classified under three types of measures i.e. Zero-Investment; Low-Investment and High-Investment Energy Conservation Measures. The study shows that the Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) pertaining to the HVAC system characteristics and operation represent the highest potential for energy reduction, attention should be given to window thermal and solar radiation characteristics when large window areas are used. The type of glazing system needs to be carefully considered in the early design phase of future buildings. Paper will present the thermal optimization of different size centers in the two hot-dry and hot-humid Saudi Arabian city of Al Khobar, East province.

Keywords: energy conservation, optimization, thermal design, intermittent operation, exchange centers, hot-humid climate, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Alex Knighton, Roba Khundkar, Michael Dunn

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Neo-colonialism is defined as the use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies, and concerns have been raised about its presence in surgical missions. Surgical missions aim to rectify the huge disparity in surgical access worldwide, but their ethics must be carefully considered. This is especially in light of colonial history which affects international relations and global health today, to ensure that colonial attitudes are not influencing efforts to promote equity. This review examines the history of colonial global health, demonstrating that global health initiatives have consistently been used to benefit those providing them, and then asks whether elements of colonialism are still pervasive in surgical missions today. Data was collected from the literature using specified search terms and snowball searching, as well as from international expert web-based conferences on global surgery ethics. A thematic analysis was then conducted on this data, resulting in the identification of six themes which are identifiable in both past and present global health initiatives. These six themes are power, lack of understanding or respect, feelings of superiority, exploitation, enabling of dependency, and acceptance of poorer standards of care. An ethical analysis follows, concluding that the concerns of power and neo-colonialism in global surgery would be addressed by adopting a framework of procedural justice that promotes a refined governance process in which stakeholders are able to propose and reject decisions that affect them. The paper argues that adopting this model would address concerns of the power disparity in the field directly, as well as promoting an ethical framework to enable the other concerns of power disparity and neo-colonialism identified in the present analysis to be addressed.

Keywords: medical ethics, global surgery, global health, neocolonialism, surgical missions

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Fooladi

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The patent system which fits with industrial and economic situation in the country, by strengthening research and development, technology transfer and increasing foreign investment can provide economic and industrial growth of the countries. However, the extent and manner of support should be commensurate with the country's conditions and comply with significant rules to have a positive effect on research and development, technology transfer and the amount of foreign investment. The present article tries to while reviewing the state of effectiveness of the patent system on economic growth, to illustrate the characteristics of the patent system fits Afghanistan and according to this matter provide the necessary recommendations about the improvement of laws and regulations related to the patent in Afghanistan.

Keywords: patent, economic growth, technology transfer, Afghanistan

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Authors: Muhammad Umair Ahmed, Aftab Shoukat

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Today the global economy has become one of the key strategies in dealing with environmental issues. To allow for a round economy, organizations have begun to work to improve their sustainability management. The contribution of green resource management to the transformation of the global economy has not been investigated. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of green labor management on the global economy, environmental and economic performance, and the organisation's environmental dignity. We strongly evaluate the different roles of the various processes of green personnel management (i.e., green recruitment, training, and engagement green, as well as green performance management and reward) in organizational operations. We are also investigating the leadership role of CEO Ethical. Our outcome will have a positive impact on the performance of the organization. Green Human Resource Management contributes to the evolution of a roundabout economy without the influence of different external factors such as market demand and commitment. Finally, the results of our research will provide a few aspects for future research, both academic and human.

Keywords: sustainability, green human resource management, circular economy, human capital

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Authors: Ghita Benayad

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Asset allocation, which affects the long-term profitability of portfolios by distributing assets to fulfill a range of investment objectives, is the cornerstone of investment management in the dynamic and complicated world of financial markets. This paper offers a technique for optimizing strategic asset allocation with the goal of improving portfolio performance by addressing the inherent complexity and uncertainty of the market through the use of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in a multi-objective modeling framework. The study's first section starts with a critical evaluation of conventional asset allocation techniques, highlighting how poorly they are able to capture the intricate relationships between assets and the volatile nature of the market. In order to overcome these challenges, the project suggests a PCA-driven methodology that isolates important characteristics influencing asset returns by decreasing the dimensionality of the investment universe. This decrease provides a stronger basis for asset allocation decisions by facilitating a clearer understanding of market structures and behaviors. Using a multi-objective optimization model, the project builds on this foundation by taking into account a number of performance metrics at once, including risk minimization, return maximization, and the accomplishment of predetermined investment goals like regulatory compliance or sustainability standards. This model provides a more comprehensive understanding of investor preferences and portfolio performance in comparison to conventional single-objective optimization techniques. While applying the PCA-driven multi-objective optimization model to historical market data, aiming to construct portfolios better under different market situations. As compared to portfolios produced from conventional asset allocation methodologies, the results show that portfolios optimized using the proposed method display improved risk-adjusted returns, more resilience to market downturns, and better alignment with specified investment objectives. The study also looks at the implications of this PCA technique for portfolio management, including the prospect that it might give investors a more advanced framework for navigating financial markets. The findings suggest that by combining PCA with multi-objective optimization, investors may obtain a more strategic and informed asset allocation that is responsive to both market conditions and individual investment preferences. In conclusion, this capstone project improves the field of financial engineering by creating a sophisticated asset allocation optimization model that integrates PCA with multi-objective optimization. In addition to raising concerns about the condition of asset allocation today, the proposed method of portfolio management opens up new avenues for research and application in the area of investment techniques.

Keywords: asset allocation, portfolio optimization, principle component analysis, multi-objective modelling, financial market

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Authors: Zahra Mohagheghian, Fatema Agharebparast

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Professional ethic is a subject that has been an issue today, so most of the businesses, including the teaching profession, understand the need and importance of it. So they need to develop a code of professional ethics for their own. In this regard, this study seeks to answer the question, with respect to the integrity of the Qur'an (Nahl / 89), is it possible to contemplate the divine teachers conduct to extract the divine pattern for teaching and training? In the code of conduct for divine teachers what are the most important moral obligations and duties of the teaching professionals? The results of this study show that the teaching of Khidr, according to the Quran’s verses, Abundant and subtle hints emphasized that it can be as comprehensive and divine pattern used in teaching and in the drafting of the charter of professional ethics of teachers used it. Also, the results show that in there have been many ethical principles in prophet Khidr’s teaching pattern.The most important ethical principles include: Student assessment, using objective and not subjective examples, assessment during teaching, flexibility, and others. According to each of these principles can help teachers achieve their educational goals and lead human being in their path toward spiritual evaluation.

Keywords: professional ethics, teaching-learning process, teacher, student, Quran

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